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December 9, 2012

Nappy Covers

Summer
is finally here. It feels like I have been waiting forever for it to
come. And the first day of summer started off with a real ripper - 39
degrees and very very humid. You know when you are hitting those
temperatures in Nov/Dec that by the time February rolls around it is
going to be very very hot. Naturally this just provides me with another
excuse to do more sewing. For a baby, a nappy and a singlet is pretty
much all they need to wear in the super hot weather. But I think it
needs to be a little cuter than a huggies label and a plain white
singlet.

I made these three little sets for Zoe to wear during Summer.

They were super easy and very very fast. I have tried a few different patterns for nappy covers and I keep coming back to the tutorial and free pattern (I know, don't you just love a free pattern) on the Made website here. Maybe its because Zoe is on the chubby side, but I find it to be a really great fit particularly around the thigh region, and the cut is perfect - not too high or too low.

I added a few little details to each of them to make them a little cuter. Then it was time to think about tops.

For this little yellow and green set, I just went with a simple singlet.

Add some fabric, ric rac and a flower and you have a cute singlet.

Next, this pair with the ruffly butt..

I added a simple letter applique and some ric rac to make this singlet coordinate with the pants

The last set, I wanted to try making a little top as well. I didn't really use a pattern for this, I just kind of made it up as I went along. I never in the past really understood how people could sew things for their girls without a pattern and get the fit right. I had really only sewn ladies stuff until recently and ladies stuff is quite a bit trickier. I can see now that girls stuff is relatively simple, especially when you have the body right there in front of you to measure and check the fit on. For this top I used a combination of some linen and seer sucker, two nice lightweight fabrics that breathe a little more easily than your standard quilting weight cotton.

And the back view….

I really like this little set. I made it a little big because we have plently of clothes in size 0, but very few in size 1 and they'll fit in another month or so.

Here is Zoe in a couple of the outfits. I wish I had better pictures, but she is fast at the moment and does not stop moving, making it really hard to photograph her.

This is a very easy project for someone who is new to sewing and has a baby that they would like to sew some nappy covers for. They use barely any fabric and Dana's tutorial is very very simple to follow. Once you have the basic cover perfected, then it is easy to add a few ruffles and trims. My tips for sewing for little people are:

1. Remember that their bodies are little and cannot cope with big prints. Stick to smaller, more simple prints and you'll get a better result.

2. Trim, trim, trim. It can make a huge difference to the overall finish of your outfit. Some simple ribbon (make sure that it is fine to be machine washed over and over again though- some ribbion is not really all that great for sewing), ric rac or lace can turn an outfit from something cute into super cute. Be creative about where you get your embelishments and trims from as they can get expensive. An old crocheted table cloth at the local St Vinnies store can be cut up and dyed to crate all sorts of cute crochet embelishments. Ckeck your own clothing that you no longer wear - there are most likely some cute farbcis or trims hiding away in there that you could recycle.

3. Think carefully about which fabrics you will use, and when combining fabrics, use fabrics of a similar type to get the best result. And make sure they are comfortable. I tend to hold fabrics up to my face if I am unsure to check and see if it feels scratchy next to my face.